The game was played on Sunday 29th of October. Chris & Ian played the Soviets
and I played the Germans. Most of the kit was mine excepting the SU-85's, infantry
and one of the IS-2's which were painted by Chris. Houses by Chris too.

IS-2 of the 53rd Tank Brigade just south of Yablonitza. Ostmodels
IS-2 painted by Chris

T-34/76 M1943 of the 53rd Tank Brigade (Matchbox with a Vac-U-Cast
turret) and a pair of Soviet infantry one with a captured Panzerfaust. Nearest
bloke is Italeri with added SHQ Panzerfaust and the one further away is HAT
with a head swap. These infantry painted by me.

53rd Tank Brigade lined up. The nearest T-34 has a different
type of Vac-U-Cast turret. My new roads were provided by Slindon Scenics

Panthers advance! Lead elements of the 16 Panzer push east past
Yablonitza. My plan was to go north of the town then swing south hoping the
panzer grenadiers in the village would keep the Soviet tanks off my flank. Unfortunately
Chris's reinforcement rolls were hot and the 51st Tank Brigade soon appeared
in front of them

Tiger II (Esci) and Panzer grenadiers follow the Panthers

53rd Tank Brigade moves to the west of Yablonitza and engages
the Panthers. Poor morale dice on behalf of the Soviets soon saw the Soviet
tanks retreating. The Panthers hurried them on their way by shooting the IS-2
up the backside

52nd Tank Brigade advances into the flank of the 16 Pz Div past
their burning victims

Reinforcements from the east - SU-85 (Fujimi) of the 1983rd
SU Regiment. Their rapid arrival put paid to German plans for a sweeping flanking
move

SU-85 suppressed by the German artillery

53rd Tank Brigade's high water mark. Despite killing off a StuG
the 53rd came under strong fire from the RHQ PzKfw-IV and then failed a morale
check, scuttling back over the ridge. Unfortunately for the Soviets the corps
commander was several kilometres away and was in no position to rally them.
However the Germans were starting to run short of Panzers...

RHQ PzKfw-IV (Fujimi) holds off the 53rd while the Panzer grenadiers
move to reinforce Yablonitza

Big cats to the north of Yablonitza confront a counter attack
by the 51st Tank Brigade and the SU-85's

The first of the Soviet FO's arrives on table. FAA figure with
a very old Grammodels (?) Seep both painted by Chris. Chris was very cautious
with his FO's which reduced the effectiveness of the Soviet artillery during
the game

Tiger turns to face the 53rd. This was an unfortunate move as
a lucky long range shot from the 51st on the other side of the table pieced
its thin side armour. The Tiger failed to kill anything before it died, a pretty
historical result.

Tiger out of the way the SU's advance. At this point of the
game the Soviets had slain more panzers than they'd lost tanks of their own
and killed the King Tiger. However Yablonitza was firmly in the hands of the
panzer grenadiers and no better than a draw could be achieved without it. Time
was running out fast.

51st Tank Brigade moves to assault Yablonitza

RHQ PzKfw-IV fires at the on-coming 51st. However the Russian
artillery effectively suppressed the panzer and the 51st are a long way off

sIG-33 auf PzKfw-38(t) engages the shaken 53rd Tank Brigade.
Despite being outnumbered 3:1 the sIG forces another morale failure on the 53rd
causing them to retreat further back and effectively putting them out of the
game

The 51st aided by 289th Infantry smash through Yablonitza. Although
the panzer grenadiers shoot nearly all the infantry their fire with their Panzerfausts
is lamentable. Even so its the last turn before the T-34's face the last defenders
of the town. The T-34's had to kill all three of the infantry stands to win.
Luck was with the Soviets and the final German infantry stand was slain, giving
the Russians the town and a decisive victory. The game went down to the very
last dice roll and with just a little more luck the Germans could have held
the Soviets to a draw.

The end - burning wrecks litter the Polish Plain. It was a see-saw
battle and at different points throughout it looked like both sides were heading
for a clear-cut victory. It was great fun and even though the Germans lost they
did a damn sight better than historically.